Interesting Times - Chapter 23

December 14th, 2169

14:37

Reach, Olympus-System

Enroute towards R'n'D-Facility Vinci

"You know," I drawled, "the last time I visited this facility, I didn't have to go through all this... nonsense."

First, I had to travel to earth, where a team of Alliance marines escorted me to an on-planet military base. We changed transports again to fly up to a frigate waiting in orbit. Thankfully, the frigate jumped directly into the Olympus System without any detours. When we arrived in the system, we took another transporter down to the planet, and I noticed that its ID was different from the one we took to the frigate.

We landed on the planet, and I had only enough time to take a look around before they led me toward another shuttle that would finally take me to our end destination.

Couple all of that with repeated checks for any tracking beacons or bugs every time we changed transports, and one could understand why I was annoyed with everything.

"The last time you visited this facility, Mr. Denebren, you were a high-ranking member of the Alliance government," responded Captain Messe-Bergamini. "Furthermore," he continued, "the security measures at this facility have been doubled since your last visit. Especially now that we are sure that the Salarians have managed to acquire enough information to build a functioning DR-drive of their own, the whole system could become compromised."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes when I heard this.

"It was always just a matter of when and not if they could replicate it. And besides, I'm pretty sure the whole galaxy already knows of this place. If not the exact coordinates, then at least the sector. If I remember correctly, the first rumors about this place started to appear a few months after we settled on it?"

Captain Messe-Bergamini seemed to sink a bit deeper into his seat.

I had to wonder how he did that, the shuttle was made for military purposes, and my stiff back told me that what he did was quite impossible.

"Quite true, Mr. Denebren, quite true," he agreed tiredly. "It's just that the latest intelligence reports about the Salarian's progress in building their own DR-drive has quite a lot of people anxious. Alliance High Command thought we would have the advantage of space travel unrestricted by the relays for a while longer. Now, those same guys are worried that it is only a matter of time until we have to deal with Salarians in the system."

"It was always just a matter of time," I scoffed. "Personally, I'm surprised it took the Salarians so long to make enough progress for the AIS to notify High Command about it. But, I also think it will still be some time until we have to worry about the Salarians using the DR-drive effectively."

"Why do y..."

The captain was interrupted when the shuttle experienced turbulences that shook us in our seats, but as the shuttle recovered, so did the captain, and this time he asked his question without interruption.

"Why do you think so, Mr. Denebren?"

A small smile appeared on my face, and I turned my head to the left. If we had traveled with my personal shuttle, I would have been able to look out a window to see the landscape flying by, but in this military transport, the only thing that greeted me was steel.

I suppressed a sigh as I turned back to face Messe-Bergamini, and said: "Arrogance, my good captain. Arrogance."

I waited for a moment to let that one-word sink in, and I could see how he was at first confused but then slowly came to realize what I meant.

Still, it wouldn't hurt to elaborate on what I meant so that we could continue our discussion. It could still take some time until we arrived at our destination, and without any of my datapads, I couldn't even work. So talking was the only distraction available to me.

"The Salarians believe in their own superiority. Hundreds upon hundreds of years as the most scientifically inclined species in the galaxy, producing innovations almost daily and being seen as the smartest species by the rest of the galactic community? It's hard not to develop hubris. And that's why they will have difficulties adapting the DR-drive to their existing technological progress."

There was a spark of understanding in Messe-Bergamini's eyes as I finished.

"I read about the difficulties you had when you started to combine element zero with the DR-drive when I got appointed as your military liaison officer. If the Salarians try to do the same, they will get a radically different result."

"Exactly," I said with a nod. "All of our ships are equipped with drives that combine eezo and DR technology, so I'm sure that the Salarians will think that both depend on each other rather than two completely different technological disciplines. Furthermore, they believe -quite rightly, in my opinion- that they have achieved a mastery over eezo technology that will take us a long time to reach. If we take this thought further, what do you think the Salarians will do?"

"They will use the DR-drive with a fully powered eezo core," answered Messe-Bergamini almost immediately. "Probably without testing the DR-drive on its lonesome beforehand. Since we can use the DR-drive with less sophisticated eezo technology, they will think their greater knowledge about it will improve the drive even more."

"Correct," I agreed, and my smile resembled a shark's. "During the first test, the ship will be lost inside the rift, brought off course by the dimensional winds. And the best thing about it? The Salarians observing the experiment won't know what happened. It will set their efforts back by months. They won't be able to comprehend that their superior eezo tech is the cause of their failure. Of course, at one point, they will be able to figure it out, but I can't see it happening soon."

"Meanwhile," continued Messe-Bergamini, "we continue to further our understanding of eezo and DR technology. Each of them independently, combining them later on into a new field. That way, we will be able to bridge the gap between us and the established galactic superpowers. Is that one of the reasons you champion the combination of existing and new technological innovations with element zero to be seen as a completely different field of research?"

"Among others, yes. I dislike how the galaxy seems to restrict itself to eezo technology. It looks like they see the Protheans as the apex of technological and cultural progress without any thought of deviating from the preexisting path or going even further than the Protheans."

"And by going a different way, we can surprise our opponents by doing things differently from how they're used to."

"Exactly," I said with a grin.

The captain replied with a grin of his own. We settled into a comfortable silence for the rest of the trip to the facility.

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December 14th, 2169

14:40 SET

[Redacted], [Redacted]

SNV Shining Light

Colonel Savil Meharra, STG

He swiped over his mouth with his thumb once again while he observed the bustle around him. The crew was finishing the final preparations for the opening of the rift, as the humans called it.

Savil couldn't help the scoff that escaped him whenever he thought of those upstarts.

He had been a young hatchling when the incident happened that led to a brief but brutal battle between the humans and Turians.

Barbarians, both of them, he thought disgusted. How they even achieved space travel is still a mystery to me.

Intellectually, he could understand how. The Turians had access to Prothean ruins and, like the Asari and Salarians, used them to great effect to bring their civilization into a new age. Yet, how the humans did it without the help of any remnants of Prothean technology at first and even created another method of space travel over long distances.

Something that his own species hadn't accomplished by themselves. Even now, they would be using technology created by humans.

Even an idiot can have one good idea in his life.

Salvin was sure that the creation of this so-called DR-drive was only a fluke, a species as young as humanity wouldn't have been capable of something like that otherwise.

He would never be able to believe that a species so young could invent another form of space travel intentionally, especially when they had only just discovered the mass relays and mass effect technology left behind by the Protheans. It probably happened during a failed experiment, trying to travel between star systems with an inferior eezo drive. At least, that explanation would fit their less sophisticated use of it.

Salvin was sure that the additions and improvements they had made to the DR-drive would leave anything created by the humans in the dust.

"Sir, the preparations are done. We're ready to jump at your command," called the pilot, and a smile appeared on Salvin's face.

This was it. He would become the first Salarian to use the new technology. His name would be known by future generations of STG agents as the one to take the first step into a new age of intelligence gathering.

"Activate the drive, and get us through the rift, pilot," ordered Salvin, and the bridge crew followed his command at once without any signs of hesitation.

Right before the observation window of the bridge, a circle of blue light appeared in front of the ship, and the SNV Shining Light slowly drew closer to it.

If Salvin was truthful, he would admit that the appearance of the blue circle was mesmerizing. He couldn't turn his eyes away from it as it grew bigger the closer they got.

Then the moment of truth arrived as the nose of the ship pierced the circle and disappeared into the blue light.

Moments later, the rest of the ship followed, and the black background of the galaxy vanished, leaving only the colors blue and white.

Salvin's heart was beating faster than it had ever before, and it seemed like his surroundings were disappearing until only the blue and white of the rift were left.

He was so immersed in the sight that he didn't hear that his sensor officer was calling him. Only after the third time calling for his attention did Salvin leave his trance, focusing on the officer.

"Repeat that, officer!" he snapped out.

"We're getting readings of some kind of radiation that are not in our systems, and their levels are rising into a dangerous territory quickly."

Before Salvin could order anything to counter the rising radiation levels, a shudder went through the ship, throwing more than one Salarian to the ground.

"What's happening now?" he cried out, and a slight bit of fear appeared in his voice.

"I'm losing control of the ship," cried the pilot helplessly. "Something is pushing us around, and I have my hands full keeping us steady."

A siren started to sound on the bridge, and simultaneously another officer called: "We just lost our right wing! Deploying atmosphere seals!"

But before the officer could do anything, the ship shuddered once again, and this time it was like an explosion hit the bridge. A few of his fellow Salarians cried out as their bodies were pierced by flying metal pieces.

"I'm losing control of the ship!" screamed the pilot, and Salvin could see everything, every single dream he ever had going up in flames right before his eyes.

The last thing he ever felt was confusion. Confusion over what exactly went wrong.

Then, it was like the whole ship was ripped apart by an invisible beast.

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December 14th, 2169

14:48 SET

[Redacted], [Redacted]

SNV Observing Shadow

Major Miis Kikae, STG

"They should have appeared on our sensors by now," muttered the Salarian to his right, and Miis could only nod in agreement.

"Even if it's an untested drive, an in-system jump shouldn't take so long. Besides, we saw that the Shing Light opened the rift and flew into it. So what is taking them so long?" asked another Salarian tasked with observing the experiment.

"The experiment was a failure, and the Shining Light is probably lost with all hands," stated Miis after careful consideration.

The two Salarians turned away from their equipment that recorded every single second and detail of the experiment to face him. He could see the confusion on their faces, but he wouldn't say anything until they asked. It wasn't in his nature to give out information without anyone asking, and it didn't matter to him if the information was classified or not.

"What makes you say that, sir?" asked one of the sensor officers after a moment of silence.

"Even if it's an untested design, the exit should have opened by now. Every data we acquired from the humans points to that. Since that didn't happen, the only conclusion we can draw is that something went wrong inside the rift."

"So, the only question left is what went wrong?"

Miis nodded slowly, and the sensor officers turned back towards their terminals, starting to analyze every shred of data their equipment recorded.

In the ensuing silence, Major Kikae was alone with his thoughts, but his ears were always open.

He learned young that sometimes just listening was enough to acquire all the needed information and to draw the correct conclusions.

So when the two sensor officers started to talk, Miis started to listen.

"Do you think that has anything to do with the rumors circling in IT?"

"Could be. I've heard the guys in IT were searching for something in the last data package and found nothing."

Interesting theory, thought Miis. But ultimately wrong. They found nothing because there wasn't anything. The analysts are sure that Oscar Denebren knew what he was doing when he let that drop. A smokescreen. Intended to delay our progress, nothing more. Still, I should make a note to check again in my report.

For five years, Miis had been working in the STG division responsible for the surveillance of human territory. And truth be told, the AIS was a more worthy opponent than the different agencies of the Asari or the Turian Military Intelligence Services, TMIS.

When he started working for the STG more than eight years ago, he heard about the counter-espionage abilities of the AIS from some of his colleagues but didn't think much about them. Three years later, he was relocated to his new division and learned the hard way that the humans were more than capable enough to give the STG some trouble when trying to do their job.

The game in the shadows that people like Miis played got a lot more interesting with the introduction of the humans, and the game, they played between them was a lot more subtle than with the Turians.

Every time the TMIS discovered an STG team inside the Hierarchy's territory, it would become a race between the two outcomes of being captured and eliminated or escaping successfully.

If the AIS discovered an STG team, there wouldn't be any signs at first. It would take some effort on the STG's side to notice that they had been discovered. Only after the team would begin to exfiltrate an AIS team would be sent to capture them. Most of the time, the STG team would be able to exfiltrate successfully, but there would be one problem. There was no way to know just when exactly they had been discovered. Furthermore, it would be almost impossible to know which information they acquired was genuine and which had been planted by the AIS.

Even if he was his and the entire STG's most hated opponent, Andrew Clarke, the founder and director of the AIS, was respected by every single agent in the H-division.

Respected enough that the STG tried to assassinate him on three different occasions.

And every time, the attempt failed before the team even got close enough to line up a shot.

One time, they got even a message from the director personally. It only contained two words: Nice try.

Miis had to hold back a snort when he recalled that particular incident. The message was found in one of their secret listening posts, and even after a forensic team went over the place, it was still unclear how the AIS managed to deliver it without anyone noticing.

Yet that had been preferable to what happened when they tried to take out the former president of the Alliance, Micheal Port, or the former minister of economics, Oscar Denebren.

There were others designated as possible targets, but most were still working for the Alliance, so no attempt was made due to the potential political fallout.

After Micheal Port and Oscar Denebren had left their posts in the Alliance government, plans were made to take them out of the picture. Both had enough influence and power to reverse any changes that the Salarian or Asari could influence in human society if they were inclined to do so.

Thus STG Command saw an opportunity to eliminate the two unknown variables after they left the protection of the Alliance government.

Micheal Port was traveling inside the Alliance territory, from one planet to another, to observe how humanity adapted to different environments. After careful consideration, STG Command decided that he would be too hard to hit right now and that they would wait until the STG achieved a deeper penetration in the Alliance's territory.

Oscar Denebren, on the other hand, was much easier to hit and perhaps an even more important target than Micheal Port, at least in Miik's opinion. He was the backbone of the Alliance's military buildup and general infrastructure. Without his mining businesses, there wouldn't be enough raw materials to satisfy the demands of a growing galactic civilization.

Either their efforts would take a hit, or the Alliance would have to turn to other markets to import the needed materials at great cost.

So, it had been decided that an STG team would eliminate Oscar Denebren, made easier by his move to the Citadel, where he would be far more in the open than elsewhere.

Yet, when the time came, the whole team disappeared off the grid without any notice. At that time, Miis had been part of the overwatch team and had a front-row seat to the panic spreading among them like wildfire.

Nobody knew what had happened, and even a second team sent to the site couldn't find out what happened to the assassination team.

But one thing was clear.

The AIS had found out about the assassination and stopped the attempt before anyone from the STG realized it.

The only remaining question was if they would retaliate, and retaliate they did.

It happened when a Turian Rear Admiral was assassinated on a planet deep inside the Hierarchy's territory.

The Turian had advocated for more independence from the Council and was trying to reduce the Turian patrols at the border to the Terminus systems and Salarian colonies. He had been considered a target for elimination but wasn't deemed dangerous enough to Salarian interests to warrant it. So, it was no surprise that the STG would fall under suspicion, but that would have been negligible if not for one important fact.

Three different STG cells inside the Hierarchy's territory were uncovered just after the assassination, one of them in the same system as the murdered Rear Admiral.

The fallout from that had been immense.

And the only reason why Miis knew that this was the retaliation of the AIS for the attempted assassination of Oscar Denebren was a drop of blood found at the site from where the assassin shot.

But not human blood, no, the AIS wouldn't be so careless. It was Salarian blood, which didn't exactly help to convince the Turians of the STGs' non-involvement.

Only after the STG got their hands on the DNA analysis of the blood and compared it to their databanks did they start to see the whole picture.

The blood belonged to one of the agents of the team they sent to eliminate Oscar Denebren, and it was still fresh! There had been no preservatives, so they couldn't even argue that the blood had been placed there.

If it hadn't been a play against his agency, Miik would have been able to appreciate the scenario.

Holy Dalatrass, he was able to appreciate it! It was masterfully done, and one had to appreciate such finesse.

Records from the Turians showed that no human entered or lived in the system - or even the cluster - in the last five years.

There was still no consensus on how exactly the humans managed to assassinate the Turian without even the slightest evidence left behind.

The only concrete evidence found was planted there, and the message behind it was only understandable by the STG.

Miis shook his head to get rid of these unnecessary thoughts, he had more important things to do.

He ordered the two sensor officers to compile a summary of the recorded data and left the observation room. There was still a report to write and his superiors were very interested in the experiment.

I just hope the next experiment goes better. Meharra wasn't a great loss, but I would hate to see other agents go down the same road as him.

Yet, one thought wouldn't leave his mind now that he thought about it again.

How did the AIS infiltrate the Turian system without anyone noticing?

Could it be that they use the DR-drive? We had to create new sensors to observe the Rift phenomena, but the eezo in the ships should still appear on the regular sensors.

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December 14th, 2169

15:03 SET

R'n'D-Facility Vinci

I stretched my arms above my head to get the kinks out of my shoulders when I left the shuttle. Those seats really weren't good for one's back. And that the flight took longer than expected didn't help too.

Before I could look around the landing pad, a voice called out to me.

"Oscar! It's good to see you! It's been too long, my friend."

I turned toward the voice and saw Admiral James Wright walking in our direction.

He looked well for his age. His hair might have turned completely grey, and at some parts even white, but there was still a youthfulness in his gait that fit him somehow. The bright grin on his face was almost as blinding as all the medals that decorated his pristine uniform.

"James!" I called, matching his smile with one of my own. "You being here to escort me almost makes up for all the trouble I had to go through to get here."

James let out a quiet laugh at my poor attempt at a joke and shook his head. "Trust me, when you find out what this meeting's about, you will understand all the precautions we had to take."

"That serious, huh?" I asked, and James turned serious for a moment.

"Serious enough that you have to sign form E-32," he said seriously, his mouth becoming a thin line.

My smile froze on my face, and the only thing I could do was blink in shock for a moment.

Form E-32 wasn't something that was given out lightly. Hell, ever since I joined the Alliance almost two decades ago, I had to sign this form only two times, and one of those became obsolete five months after I had signed it.

The first one had been when my company and I had been granted access to the Prothean tech recovered from Mars, and the other one was when I was made aware of the crisis bunker on Reach.

Prothean tech and anything we could glean from it had become so widespread in the Alliance that there wouldn't be any breach in agreement if I sold or told others about it. I only had to sign it, so that the Alliance would be the only organization with access to eezo technology during its infancy so that the superpowers on earth couldn't supplement them with their own organizations.

The other one was still in effect, and if I told anyone without the necessary security clearance about the bunker, I would have to face the consequences of breaching the agreement.

The consequences? Being labeled a traitor to humanity and executed without trial. That's how serious this form was.

Yet, I didn't feel uneasy. Instead, I could feel how my anticipation started to build up. Just what did they find to bring out this form? And why would they call for me? I wasn't part of the Alliance government anymore, so they were under no obligation to tell me anything. My best guess was they needed Takahashi for something, and he insisted that he would only agree if I was involved, too.

Or perhaps they needed more funds that wouldn't appear anywhere in the Alliance's bookkeeping.

Possibilities over possibilities, but I would never find out anything if I just stood there.

"You still know how you can interest me, my old friend," I said easily after I recovered from my momentary shock.

James laughed good-naturedly, and a smile started to appear on my face too.

"So," asked James after he stopped to laugh, "do you want a tour?" He pointed to the area before us. "We got some time before the meeting. Barbara still needs some time before she can join us."

"Barbara is coming too?" That was a surprise, but a good one. It had been years since I last saw her.

"Yeah, it's almost a reunion of the old gang. We're just missing Micheal and Anita. But back to Barbara. She's running some kind of experiment, and you know how she is when she's focused on her work." James finished his statement with an eye-roll.

I tried to suppress a chuckle but didn't quite manage it.

"So, you want that tour or not?"

"I will take it gladly. I want to see what the tons of money I sunk into the Alliance got us for toys," I joked.

With another laugh, James started to walk away and signaled me to follow. I joined him moments later, eager to see how far the Alliance military had come.